A Scandal in Battersea (Elemental Masters #12)(96)
Events were certainly on the move—had moved, much faster than Nan would have expected. At first light John and Mary had taken the coach into London, and apparently it had been easier to convince Alderscroft that things were perilous than any of them would have predicted.
Somewhat to Holmes’ bemusement, the Hartons’ amazement, and her astonishment . . . it turned out there was a very special platoon of Her Majesty’s Army that was kept at the ready to deal with . . . “unnatural situations,” as Alderscroft had called it. These were all men who had, at some point in their military careers, dealt successfully with “incidents” of the supernatural. They were well trained, sharp, and again, as Alderscroft put it, “not easily rattled.” Based in London and at the call of Alderscroft, they were already deployed to the hospital, where pairs of them were to guard the girls day and night.
Alderscroft must have invoked Her Majesty’s name to get all this done, Nan reflected. I cannot imagine that doctor allowing part of his hospital to be taken over by a platoon of soldiers otherwise. And he must have invoked some sort of Special Privilege to keep the man quiet about it so that he would ask no questions.
I wonder if that was Lord A’s work, or Holmes’ brother’s? It could have been either or both, working together, as she knew now they often did; moving a small group of very special troops and presenting the doctor with an order with the Royal Seal on it would have been well within Alderscroft’s powers, but Holmes’ brother actually had the ear of Her Majesty and could probably manage it quicker.
Alas, to Holmes’ disappointment, there was no Maxim gun to be had on such short notice, but on his recommendation, one had been called for, and if this stretched on for very much longer, it might well arrive before the Unhallowed Queen opened her portal to conquer this world.
Enhanced magical wardings had been placed all around the School, by Puck himself. That was why Karamjit and Agansing were there at the hospital now, rather than here. As it happened, two of those special soldiers had been Sikhs, and one a Gurkha, and they were the very men the Hartons’ servants had intended to attempt to recruit themselves! According to a letter carried to her this evening by Neville, there had been great surprise all around when the acquaintances learned that Agansing and Karamjit were in the employ of “pukka jaadoogar” like their own commander, Alderscroft. And Agansing and Karamjit had been quite chagrined to discover there actually was a platoon that held men like themselves, as adept in battling supernatural evils as they were the more mundane evils that men were only too capable of producing.
Puck was nowhere around, but Nan was not at all concerned; he could be summoned in an instant, either by Roan here, or Durwin, who had moved himself to the hospital, where he had established himself with an eye to being helpful to the soldiers. The rules that governed hob behavior were very much suspended for now, by Robin’s own decree. “What’s the point of these rules, if they keep us from defending our own home?” he had said. “And if I can’t break the rules I set, then who can?”
Holmes interrupted her thoughts. “It seems to me that we have good, sound evidence pointing to you being sensitive to these portals opening, Miss Amelia,” he said. “There is no reason to think that the being did not open a second one last night, after the first had closed. It probably wanted to contact its ally in our London, to prepare him for the imminent invasion. Was there any difference in the strength of the visions?”
“Oh, yes,” Amelia nodded decisively. “The first one was much clearer, much stronger than all the rest have been. The others were much the same in strength.”
“A good argument for all the other portals being some physical distance away from you, then.” Holmes looked at his own notes, and added another.
It was too bad that they couldn’t delay the thing for a while by separating the girls, or merely keep the seventh away from the rest. But John Watson had rightly pointed out that if they delayed for longer than usual in bringing the last girl to the rest, the thing would likely grow impatient, snatch away all of them, and work its spell in some remote place where it could do as it pleased. They had decided that as soon as the last girl was located, they could delay as much as two days, but not more.
Holmes continued to ask questions about minute details of Amelia’s visions; she answered him as best she could, although too often her answer had to be “I don’t know.” Nevertheless he did not seem unsatisfied with her performance. Finally he thanked her. “What are you doing with yourself?” he asked, out of what seemed to be pure curiosity. “It would be better to occupy your mind somehow, and try not to fret yourself too much—”
Amelia smiled faintly at him. “I am going about my day, Mr. Holmes, which at the moment consists of helping to teach some of the children here, and taking classes in things my parents forbade me to learn. I enjoy being here; quite frankly, it is much more pleasant here than it ever was at home. There is very little that I can do to combat this terrible creature should it break through to our world. So I am doing what I can to prevent it, and meanwhile living my life. Either you will stop this thing, and any time I spent wasted in huddling in my room in fear will have been wasted, or you will not, and wiser heads than I will instruct me on what next I can do. The longer I am here at the Harton School, the more I realize how little freedom life under my father’s rule allowed me. I am not going to permit fear and uncertainty to rob me of what I have only just won.”